When Picnics Take a Turn for the Awkward
by Arlome
Summary: "He takes her to the Dragonbone Catacombs for a romantic picnic." Maiko.


Disclaimer: Zuko and Mai are not mine, but the writing is.

A/N: Hello, my dearies! How have you been fairing?

As you see, I am taking a slight break from my Inuyasha fics to indulge my new obsession- ATLA!

I simply love Zuko and Mai together, and so I decided to write this little fic. I got really bored and annoyed with all the first-time stories where everything is great and the couple climaxes together very loudly, so I decided to write something more realistic. This fic is supposed to fit into the first half of the third season, so Zuko and Mai are sixteen and fifteen. Just try and imagine how such teenagers picture sex and feel towards sex.

Hope you enjoy this one!

He takes her to the Dragonbone Catacombs for a romantic picnic, excited at the prospect of showing her the extensive library on the history of their Nation. As soon as it's dark, they sneak inside the Temple hand in hand, clothed in hooded cloaks, and creep past the unsuspecting fire sages straight into the library. When the door closes after them with a soft thud, they lean against it and laugh softly in relief and exhilaration. Zuko kisses Mai lightly on the lips, places the picnic basket on the floor, and turns to walk towards the scroll-laden shelves with purpose and pride. He takes in a breath of dust and the smell of rotting parchment and smiles contently.

"Look at all these scrolls, Mai," he says, his hands on his hips and his back turned to her, "all these writings and knowledge locked up in these dusty tombs!"

He hears her footsteps coming up behind him and he smiles, but keeps his back turned to her. Two pale hands slide around his waist to caress his abdomen, Mai's front pressed firmly against his back. He takes hold of one of the hands and brings it up to his mouth, kissing the deadly fingers almost timidly with his pale lips. Her fingers linger at his mouth for a moment longer, then slide down to his front, past his chest and abdomen, right to his-

Zuko gasps in shock when her fingers skim the front of his breeches once and then twice in a bolder attempt. His breath hitches in his throat and turns into a gurgle of a dying man when said fingers find _something_ to latch on and _squeeze_.

"M-Mai," he squeaks in a voice that's been absent from his throat these past three years, "w-what are you doing?"

He feels the press of her lips against the back of his tunic, feels the expelling of warm breath against his clothes.

"What does it look like?" she asks in that same bored voice she uses all the time, as if her hand isn't full of the royal jewels at the moment, so to speak, " I'm seducing you."

He gulps and manages to choke down an unintentional moan because her freaking hand is still down there.

"I-I don't think we should really be doing t-this," he manages between a _rub_ and a _squeeze_. This finally stays her hand and Zuko is not entirely certain whether he's pleased at the outcome or not, but he takes advantage of the pause nonetheless and turns to look at her. She seems annoyed at him and he blushes furiously.

"You don't want me, is that it?" she asks and folds her arms across her chest. He shakes his head frantically, trying to find the right words that will save him from certain death.

"N-no!" he stammers and tries to touch her, but she's a bit like an impregnable fortress at the moment; not budging to his advances. He decides to keep his hands to himself and drops them to hang awkwardly at his sides, "I just don't think we're old enough."

Mai arches an eyebrow and gives him a pitying look.

"You're sixteen, Zuko," she says slowly, as if he is her two year old baby brother and needs the extra time to understand what she is trying to explain to him, "You're a man by our laws, and I'll be a woman grown in six months," she steps closer and brings her fingers to his neck, her lips achingly close to his mouth as she whispers, "unless you make me one tonight."

He draws in a shuddering breath when the understanding of what she's asking of him sinks in and that treacherous part of his anatomy that just received the benefit of her attentions rises and twitches at the possibility. Mai's lips curve into a small, smug smile as she presses herself against him, the evidence of his teenage excitement wedged between their bodies; but then she pulls away as abruptly as she embraced him and her hands are back to being crossed across her chest protectively.

"Unless, of course, you're scared," and now there is a cruel glint in her eyes and he feels his blood rise in his cheeks in indignation.

"I'm not scared of anything!" he protests hotly and takes a step in her direction.

He's lying, of course.

He's terrified out of his fucking wits at the prospect of bedding her. He's not ready, not by a long shot, and the pressure of doing it right- of succeeding- is almost chocking him and threatens to overwhelm him completely.

Zuko's not a complete novice, of course; they make out frequently. His kisses are quite skillful, his tongue well used, and Mai even let him touch her breasts twice above their bindings. He's also quite aware of the mechanics, so to speak; Uncle had the "talk" with him on the eve of that odd date with Jin, explaining in quite vivid details about the female anatomy and its erogenous zones, making Zuko squirm in his seat in wide eyed mortification. Yes, he has the hypothetical knowledge of what to do with his body when a fair lady requests his attentions in bed, but to put this knowledge to practical use- with _Mai_ \- at _this_ moment; may just prove to be beyond him.

"Oh?" Mai's eyes take on a challenging glint and she steps forward again, her hands on the front of his tunic, unfastening his sash, "then prove it," she whispers against his lips and he takes it as a declaration of war and crushes his mouth against hers, as his fingers snake into the hair at the back of her nape.

Mai parts her lips at his onslaught and Zuko takes this up as an invitation, his tongue tasting her lower lip. She pushes his tunic off his shoulders and to the floor where it joins its discarded, abandoned brethren, the cloaks. Zuko reaches for Mai's kimono; he figures that if he's not feeling the courage and assurance at what he does, he might as well fake it-like he does with everything else these days. Once her robes are untied, he moves to work on her breast bindings, not even bothering to push the kimono off her shoulders. Her small, perfectly round, delicate breasts make their debut and for a moment he forgets that he's supposed to untie her pants next. He breathes out an awed "wow" and ducks his head on impulse to plant a shy kiss on one of the lovely mounds, just above the rosy nipple. Zuko hears a soft sigh from above and lifts his head; Mai's eyes are closed; her cheeks stained with red and her moist lips parted. She's beautiful, simply breathtaking; and for a moment, Zuko forgets himself and just _stares_ ; but then she opens her eyes and his heart is beating so hard that he's afraid that it'll spring free right out of his ribcage.

"Hi," he says stupidly, but there's a ghost of a smile on her lips, and her fingers are cold against his scalding skin.

"Hi," she answers almost shyly, her hands sliding down his abdomen to the strings of his pants. Mai unties the strings with top speed and the garment drops, leaving him standing quite awkwardly in his boots, his pants around his knees and his loincloth straining against his-

She looks down at the cotton material that hides away his modesty, her eyes widen and Zuko is suddenly so embarrassed and self conscious that her reaches for her pants just to obscure her view. His hands are shaking and he can't seem to get a firm grip on the sash holding the pants in place. Mai huffs out impatiently and pushes his hands away.

"Lie down," she orders and starts untying her pants herself. Zuko blinks and frowns.

"But, aren't _you_ supposed to lie down and _I'm_ supposed to…you know, be on top of you?"

Mai arches her eyebrows and pushes at his chest so he falls backwards on his behind. He props himself on his elbows and stares at her, dazed.

"No," she intones and drops her pants and Zuko almost embarrasses himself completely by nearly coming undone in his loincloth because _she's not wearing anything beneath the silk fabric._ Did she plan this?

He lies back on the hard floor while she steps out of her pants and sits directly on top of him.

A sound suspiciously like a whimper escapes his throat as the sensation of dampness against his straining loincloth assails him and his eyes flutter closed; then Mai reaches for his hands, places them on her breasts and his brain shuts down. She's leaning down to kiss him shyly while his fingers are doing spirits-know-what against her skin and he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is no way that he'll last long.

Mai slides down his body a bit and he frowns at the loss of contact, when he registers in the back of his mind that she's untying his undergarments. Panic sets in and his eyes fly open just in time to see her staring at his out-in-the-open, right-in-your-face, almost purple erection. He's mortified and vaguely thinks that he'd rather battle a dozen Agni Kais at the moment than endure _this_ for another second, when Mai looks up at him with a wicked glint in her eyes and says:

"You have quite the beautiful penis."

Zuko feels like his head is going to explode and feels the need to reciprocate the complement so he stammers something in the lines of, " _you_ are beautiful," to which she blushes comely and he is so thankful that he pulls her down to a heated kiss.

The next thing he knows is that Mai's hands are on his chest and that her hips are rising; then he feels heat and moisture and such _tightness_ to make him grunt so loudly that he misses the painful gasp above him.

It's tight- unbearably tight- so tight, in fact, that it is bordering on painful. He winces, his eyes closed, as he waits for it to become as pleasant as all the sailors aboard his ship made it out to be. A whimper of pain makes him open his eyes and look at Mai, whose face is screwed up in a grimace of agony. She's biting down hard enough on her lower lip to draw blood and she's shaking, _shaking_ , on top of him. Zuko feels a jolt of horrible guilt because Mai is in _pain_ and he can't even manage to ask her how she's fairing. He's a coward; a fucking coward, who can't even say a word at a time like this to the girl he's almost certain he loves.

He lifts up his dead weight hand and brushes his fingers against her jaw line. "Mai," he rasps and she opens her moist eyes, "Mai…"

She nods and sinks lower still, making him gasp.

"I'm alright," she grunts, "I'm just adjusting."

Slowly, the horrible tightness abates a bit and Zuko pushes his hips a tiny fraction upwards, towards Mai, his hands on her hips. She draws a sharp breath, winces slightly and moves one of her hands to the juncture of her thighs, where they're joined; two fingers sliding against that mound of dark curls.

Zuko moans at the sinfully erotic sight before him and before either of them has the chance to register what happens; he empties himself into Mai's womb with a few shudders. Her eyebrows rise into her bangs, while his hands fly to cover his flaming face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he chants frantically, his voice muffled by his palms. Mai slides off of him and removes his hands from his face. She's flushed and so pretty that Zuko feels like he may just die on the spot.

"It's alright, Zuko," she says and kisses his lips, "You'll get better with practice."

He's so relieved that there are no hard feeling between them, that he barely registers that she said "you" and not "we". He sits up, reties his loincloth, and watches Mai scramble to her knees in search of her pants. His eyes wander to the axis of her thighs were the unmistakable evidence of their joining stains her pale skin. A trail of her virginal blood mingled with his semen slides down her inner thigh and Zuko suddenly feels sick to his stomach.

The icy cold realization that he just took Mai's innocence without so much as a wedding contract and that he probably ruined her prospects for the future sinks in and bile rises in his throat. He has no honor; can have no honor after this.

Zuko grabs Mai's hand in his before she has a chance to rise to her feet.

"Mai," he begins when she's watching him questioningly, "let's get married."

Her eyes widen and after a second of silence she starts _laughing_. Zuko stares at her in disbelief until she calms down.

"Why?" she asks, still smiling.

"Well, I just took your virtue," he says, resolved, "and, also, you may become…"his other hand settles on her abdomen to emphasize his point and Mai's smile turns kind and almost gentle. She squeezes his hand affectionately and rises to her feet.

"You're sweet, Zuko," she says, "but you don't have to worry about me. Besides, _I_ seduced _you_ , remember? I'm not planning on marrying you," she ties her kimono back in place and turns to him with a wink, " _yet_."

He rises to his feet and dresses up slowly, feeling quite stupid. When he's done with his clothes and even his topknot is back in place, Mai leans into his arms and squeezes his biceps.

"Can we finally eat now?" she whispers against his lips, "I'm _starving_."


End file.
